A familiar face in the Dance Department will be absent when classes start. Richard Woodbury, associate professor and former associate chair of the Dance Department, announced his retirement Aug. 20 after 38 years of service at Columbia.
“I decided that for the next 20 years o...

In 1816, German author E.T.A. Hoffmann wrote “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King,” a mystical tale about a young girl and her toy nutcracker’s endeavor to defeat a malevolent seven-headed rodent ruler.It would later inspire the libretto for Tchaikovsky’s cherished “The Nutcracker” suite, first performed in 1892 and now a Christmas staple. Chicago’s array of ballet and music venues have produced multiple renditio...

President Warrick L. Carter and Louise Love, interim provost and vice president of Academic Affairs, announced in emails this week that falling enrollment eliminated the possibility of across-the-board raises for full-and part-time faculty and staff members for the 2011–2012 academic year.Cautioning that the school was “not in a crisis situation,” Carter stated that the decision resulted from a 300-student decrease i...

Playboy is looking for the hottest girls on campus.Columbia senior marketing major Kristen Sidor was selected from hundreds of entrants who applied to Playboy.com and is among the contest’s eight finalists.Sidor said she heard of the contest from being Facebook friends with Playboy. She said it took a month after submitting her application and photos to the contest for the magazine to e-mail her back.“The first e-mail said ...

Columbia will be welcoming the Merce Cunningham Dance Company to debut two different events at the Dance Center, located at 1306 S. Michigan Ave., from Thursday, Oct. 1 through Saturday, Oct. 3. The performances will also showcase the work of two Columbia faculty members.The events are called Chicago Event 1 and Chicago Event 2, and run 75 minutes each. Chicago Event 1 will be performed at the Thursday night show and the Saturday matinee, and C...